Behavioural Economics: Everyday Decisions (HBC211)

Healthier choice snacks, e.g., dried fruits, are placed at eye level on supermarket shelves, but sweets and other high-calorie snacks are always located at lower shelves and away from eye-level. While this may seem like an inconvenience to the shopper, it is in fact a “nudge” or a way to change one’s behaviour to select healthier snacks. Such ubiquitous actions can be found in many instances in our daily lives. This course introduces students to the workings of behavioural economics and how it has been used to shape the way we live, work and play.

• Introduction to Behavioural Economics
• Key Philosophical Foundations of Behavioural Economics
• Thinking, Feeling, & Constraints
• Choice Architecture
• Risk Behaviour & Choices Under Pressure
• Happiness in Experience, Memory, & Choice
• The Pursuit of Happiness
• Intertemporal Choice
• Confidence, Competition, & Competence
• Fairness: Surge Pricing
• Ambivalence
• Manipulation: Nudge & Sludge

• Describe the foundations of behavioural economics.
• Discuss the bases of behavioural economics in the everyday choices we make.
• Examine the push and pull factors at play when we make decisions.
• Analyse issues pertaining to behavioural manipulation.
• Apply relevant concepts and theories to explain how behavioural economics impacts us in a “connected” society.
• Show, with everyday examples, how behavioural economics can have a positive impact on society.